The News Minute | March 13, 2015 | 01.20 pm IST
The Islamabad High Court on Friday declared the detention orders of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, as illegal and ordered his immediate release, a media report said.
Justice Noorul Haq accepted Lahvi's appeal filed against his third time detention orders and ordered his release, Dawn online reported.
Lakhvi, along with six other suspects, was in detention since February 2009. He is accused of being the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed.
The Pakistani government took Lakhvi and other suspects into custody in February 2009 over charges of "facilitating" the attack. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Lakhvi and the six other alleged abettors in 2009, the report added.
India and some other countries took strong exception to granting bail to Lakhvi, only a couple of days after the December 16 terrorist attack on Army Public School, Peshawar last year.
The Islamabad High Court on December 29 suspended the detention order, but the Supreme Court on January 7 restored Lakhvi's detention.
The six other men facing trial in Adiala Jail for their alleged involvement are: Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.
At the time of the attack, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) that has been accused by India of carrying out the attack in India's financial capital.
India on Friday asked the Pakistani authorities to ensure that 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is not released from jail.
"All documents related to his involvement in the Mumbai attack case have not been presented in Pakistani courts. Hence the court has ordered his release," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told the media here.
Rijiju said: "We want that the Pakistan government should take this matter seriously and take steps to ensure that he doesn't come out of jail".
With IANS